Crankee Does the Alps

Stay with me. I want to throw out a few names and see if you can guess what they have in common (ah ah! No Googling allowed) Ready? OK, here are the names: Frank Lenz, Thomas Stevens and Allen & Sachtleben. If you guessed that they all lived in the 19th century and likely sported long handlebar mustaches, you're partly correct. These men, like many after them, have felt the uncontrollable need to travel vast distances on a bicycle. Thomas Stevens circled the planet on a friggin Penny Farthing if you can believe that. And since I am a blogger that writes about cycling topics, I would be remiss if I didn't attempt some kind of grand feat of cycling daring-do. So I would like to announce to all 6 of my blog readers that generalissimo Crankee along with close friends Lowell Sheppard and Mark McBennett, will set off on June 1st from the Pacific Ocean coast of Hamamatsu City Japan on a eight day journey across the Southern Alps of Japan to Itoigawa city on the Sea of Japan coast. The trip is part vanity, part charity and a little mid-life crisis thrown in for good measure. We'll be raising money to help poor farmers obtain access to water and help them become self-sufficient. Something I've been striving for unsuccessfully since my 20's. If you'd like to donate to our cause, just visit the Hope International web site and click on the SPONSOR US banner. For more info about our trip visit our blog here.

Three guys, a mountain range and one bike

There you have it. Crankee does have a heart. And to prove it, I plan not to drop dead cycling up some of the highest peaks in Japan while raising money for poor Cambodian farmers. Take a moment to pledge a donation and I promise to think kindly of you. Really, I will.